Viagra protects against Alzheimer’s? What a very British incentive to swap sudoku for sex
Sex. Sex. Sex. Made you look. It’s one of those words that’s irresistible, even if the practicalities are a distant memory; I get the self-same Proustian response when I see “tarragon” mentioned on a menu.
But the health benefits that come with ticking off one of your five a day (even in a deliciously silky béarnaise sauce) are as nought compared to getting your oats.
Congress, whether conjugal or not, has long been proven to lower blood pressure and relieve stress. Bonking boosts the immune system and improves relationships.
But invariably, as time goes by, interest or performance wanes. Sometimes both.
According to a UK survey commissioned last year by US health company Hims & Hers Health, 30 per cent of us are having less sex as a direct result of the cost of living crisis. We’re tired, broke and worn down by world events; it’s hard to get in the mood when you’re in a mood. And that’s before we even touch upon the weather.
Even the French – mon dieu! – have lost the urge; young people are suffering from an “unprecedented decline in sexual activity”, according to a new survey carried out for sex toy brand Lelo.
Some 28 per cent of 18-24 year-olds have not had sexual intercourse in a year, compared with just 5 per cent in 2006. A shame, but they have time to catch up.
I’m more alarmed that, among French people aged 50-59, 35 per cent admitted to having been sexually inactive over the last 12 months, marking a huge rise from 10 per cent in 2006.
It’s a far cry from the scenario painted by a French friend just a handful of years ago who was divorcing her husband. When I expressed my surprise that, although they’d separated, they were still having to live in the same home, she was nonplussed.
“We are sharing not just a house but a bed,” she told me. “Of course we are. We are splitting up, but we still have needs.”
Needs. Imagine it. Just one more reason why we voted for Brexit, folks. But, here in uptight Blighty, there is one glimmer of hope: a new study by University College London, published this week. In research on more than 260,000 men, a team of scientists found that taking Viagra protects against Alzheimer’s.
Men prescribed the little blue pills for erectile dysfunction were 18 per cent less likely to develop the degenerative brain condition, compared to others with the same medical complaint who were not prescribed them.
Further research is due to investigate whether women are similarly affected. But, might this finally be the incentive some British men need to take Viagra, turbocharging their activities between the sheets in the process?
Sex on the brain seems a bit (whisper it) foreign. But sex for the brain, that sounds so dutiful and borderline joyless it might just catch on…
